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Hydropower

Hydropower is the use of energy in flowing water to power systems such as mills for grinding or tooling or spinning a turbine/generator system to produce an electrical current. The term hydropower refers to both hydroelectric (relies on falling and flowing water) and hydrokinetic (relies on flow and currents) power systems.

Kinetic energy available in flowing water, tides, and currents has been recognized and utilized for various purposes in New England, and Massachusetts in particular, for centuries. The water management infrastructure created for associated agricultural and commercial purposes is still a very visible component of the New England landscape.

The climatic zone in which we are situated, the glacial soils & topography, and our proximity to the Atlantic Ocean provide the Commonwealth with 44-48 inches of rainfall in a typical year.

Hydropower-based technologies are a rapidly developing sector within our expanding "Green Energy" portfolio. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) have well-developed regulations and tracking systems available for these types of projects. Review of their respective information sources reveals that the number of proposed and approved hydropower projects within the Commonwealth is increasing steadily.

Hydroelectric Power - To be viable for hydroelectric power production, a site must have a water source that is elevated above the turbine (referred to as head) and the water must be able to travel down with enough speed and pressure (flow) to cause the turbine to spin. These technologies rely generally on terrestrial water resource systems such as rivers, lakes, ponds and streams. Hydropower & its Use at Public Water Systems in Massachusetts

Hydrokinetic Power - Unlike hydroelectric power systems, hydrokinetic turbines are able to produce electricity from flow alone such as that available rivers, channels or ocean currents. Hydrokinetic technologies, while relatively new within the U.S. power production pursuits to date, are rapidly evolving. It is expected that a number of projects currently under design and permitting will be installed throughout the U.S. in the coming months and years. Hydrokinetics Power Systems in Massachusetts

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The information below summarizes privacy policy terms related to content recommendations on Mass.Gov and is excerpted from the full Mass.gov privacy policy.

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Data Collected: A random anonymous unique identifier is assigned and tracked for each user of the website. This identifier is sent to our vendor, Baynote, when you view a page, open a document or click a link on Mass.Gov. Our vendor then analyzes the specific content that was viewed and provides content recommendations to similar content that you may find useful. A full description of what data Baynote collects and how it uses this data is available at http://www.baynote.com/baynote-services-privacy-policy/. Please note that the tool uses persistent cookies. These cookies will be Mass.gov domain cookies and not Baynote domain cookies. The cookies will store information related to a user’s Mass.gov Web site usage, including the URL and title of sites recently visited and the random anonymous unique identifier assigned to the user. In general, and as described in more detail in Baynote’s service privacy policy linked to above, Baynote only uses the personalized information it gathers to provide recommendation services and display past usage for Mass.Gov users and will not share this information with any third parties, including advertisers. The information collected will not affect content you may see on sites unaffiliated with Mass.Gov.

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